Always a Third Wheel
by BooBerry301
Summary: Alex was always insignificant, but after being sent on a quest to check up on the seven demigods of prophecy she learns about her gift and meets someone who feels the same way. Leo x OC
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Yo yo new story! I'm going to try and update every Friday, so hopefully this works! I'm so excited for this story omg. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters besides Alexandra who is my own creation. **

Ugh. That's all I think every morning. I'm so bored. You see my name is Alexandra, but I just go by Alex. If you don't know what that means, Alexandra is another name used for Cassandra you know the girl cursed with the prophet by Apollo? Yeah her. My dad said he thought the name sounded wise, considering my mom is Athena. Now I know you already have this image in your head of a blonde haired girl with gray eyes reading a book, well the gray eyes part is right, but I am the only brunette in the Athena cabin.

You see my dad is a neuroscientist and has been researching a cure for cancer for years, I guess that's why Athena was so interested in him. I'm honestly surprised she got past his dark black hair, but let's not revel on why I'm a brunette. I have much more important things to do, and by important things I mean practicing archery all day since the rest of the Athena cabin is planning strategies against the Romans who may possibly attack us. Woo.

The only reason I'm not helping is because I'm rather new to the camp and they don't believe I've had enough "training". I bet Annabeth would've let me help. Annabeth is the Senior Counselor for the Athena cabin, but she's away on a quest with 6 other demigods somewhere in Europe. She was probably the only one who believed I was good at strategics even without training. Oh well off to archery.

"Hey Alex"

I turn around to find Malcolm looking at me.

"Yeah?" I retort

"Ok so you know the Athena cabin is working on strategic plans against the Romans?" I can tell by the tone of his voice somethings wrong.

"Yeah. What's up?"

"Athena contacted me last night in a dream, she said she's lost her trace of Annabeth and that we should send someone from our cabin to see what's going on."

"Okay?"

"-and since everyone else is working on plans I figured it would be best for you to go. We would have to get it past Chiron, but I think he'll agree."

"Wait why would he agree? I mean it's their quest, not mine. If they die it's not our faults, they knew the risks of going on a quest. Plus it's in the prophecy that it's 7 demigods and they're all chosen already. I'm only 13 and you're going to send my alone, on a quest to Rome, pretty much the most dangerous place a demigod could be. I don't thi-"

"Please. Hear me out before you talk yourself out of it. If Athena is calling upon our help then something is seriously wrong. Of course the gods can't change the prophecy, but from what we know both Annabeth and Percy are lost somewhere in Rome. We also know Nico is there, which including you, is seven demigods. You know I'd love to say I've been on a quest, but I can't, I'm giving you that opportunity and you're pushing it away. Annabeth went into the Underworld and back when she was only 12, you're almost 14. Now what do you say?" Frick. He's got me. I'm all out of arguments and I don't really have a choice.

"Fine, but you have to help me get transportation. Because I can't just take a bus to Rome."

"Okay deal. Now to clear it with Chiron."


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I know I said I'd update every Friday but I just couldn't wait. If you haven't noticed I'm pretty excited about this story. This is all prewritten, so I'm just posting by the cutoffs I added when I wrote it, so the chapters may be pretty short. The next one is definitely going to much longer so be excited for that! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters besides Alex, the rest are owned by Rick Riordan. **

Chiron was my last chance to stay at camp and most likely live, but of course Malcolm had too many counter facts for him to argue. So the old centaur took me to get a bow and arrow while Malcolm ran off to work out transportation.

"I get the feeling you really don't want to go on this quest." he says sympathetically.

"Is it that obvious?" I say with sad smile.

"You feel as if the only reason you're going is because everyone else is too busy and you're all that's left."

"Yes, exactly. How did you know that?"

"I've worked with heroes all my life. You'd be surprised how many of them also felt this way."

"Yeah, but I'm no hero. That don't even think I'm trained enough to plan battle strategies. What makes them think I'm going to pull off a quest like this?"

"I don't think you realize how much is really riding on this quest. If it fails, Gaea will awaken and destroy everything, but if it succeeds it will save the world."

"But they're like the most powerful demigods alive? Can't they handle it on their own?"

"Even the greatest heroes need some help every once and awhile." Crap. What's this feeling? Importance? This is so strange. I'm not important, yet Chiron acts as if the fate of the world is in my hands. Do I ever get a choice?

"I guess. Whatever let's just find a bow so I can get going." Chiron took that as a sign to stop talking. We found a nice 35-pound weighted bow that fits perfectly in my hands. Bullseye every time. After a few minutes of shooting Malcolm runs up to us.

"I found you a ride" he says with whatever breathe he still has.

"Really? Is it a three day cruise to Rome with full buffet and entertainment?"

"No. Better"

"What could be better than a cruise?"

"A fully automated ship built by the Hephaestus cabin." Ugh. That means I get to be completely alone and I won't have have anything to occupy me for days.

"So it has full auto-pilot and I won't have to do anything to navigate?" Please say no.

"Yep. You just sit back and relax and let the boat do all the work."

"Ok. Can I see it?"

"Sure come on." He lead me to beach where a large yacht was sitting. Great.

"Wow. How did they build it so fast?" I ask

"They had most of it built already, in case something like this happened."

"So when will I leave?"

"In a bout a hour or so." A HOUR. Now I'm freaking out, but I can't let Malcolm see or he'll accuse me of being ungrateful again.

"Oh. Um. Cool. I'll just go get some food and clothes pac-"

"Already done. The plates will supply you with whatever food you need and there are some jeans, Camp Half Blood shirts, and some plain shirts in there as well." Gods. What did they not think of?

"What about books? Are there any books?" This question got him. He blushed a little forgetting that a child of Athena would need books, even though he is one himself.

"You got me. I can't believe I forgot books. We have some up at the cabin you can take."

"Cool. Let's go." We both trudged up to the cabin together. I ended up taking about seven books filled with anything from Greek letters to parasites. Now it was time to go. Malcolm and Chiron ended up being the only ones seeing me off, except for the occasional camper that'd wave as they walked by. The Hephaestus cabin left some instructions on how to operate the ship, which only consisted of "Press the green button"

Does everyone look down on me? Oh well I'll be alone for at least a week, so there won't be anyone there at all. I sigh and press the button. Immediately the boat revved up and started moving away from camp. Oh gods. I'm really leaving. I turn and wave at Chiron again with a weary smile, but soon he just faded away to ocean.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I'm so sorry I didn't update yesterday I was at a friends house and I couldn't remember my password. Today you get an extra long chapter since I screwed up. Enjoy.**

UGHGHGHGHHGHGHGHGGH. I'M SO BORED. Gods it's been 3 days and I've already read all the books four times and there's nothing to do but stare at the ocean. Now don't get me wrong I love the ocean, but it just feels wrong being here. I guess it's because of Mom's rivalry with Poseidon. That's all I've been able to think about this whole trip, that suddenly the sea god would realize who I am and blast me out of the water.

The trip hasn't gone to bad. I've spotted some hippocampi, they were adorable, and I saw a glimpse of a kraken, which was terrifying. Other than that it's been rather uneventful. Most sea monsters are down south in the Sea of Monsters or what you mortals call the "Bermuda Triangle".

Bump.

What was that? Something just bumped into the ship. I grab my bow and nock and arrow. Bump. This time it was at the very front of the ship. I slowly walk to edge and look over, I could feel my heart drop. It was a freaking Cetus.

The Cetus was originally sent by Poseidon to devour Andromeda, but ironically Perseus was the one to slay it. I think he slayed it by either stabbing it in the back or turning it to stone with Medusa's head. Well I don't have Medusa's head with me so I guess I gotta aim for the back. Of course the Cetus chooses the moment before I shoot to flip over and dive under.

Bump.

It's on the other side of the ship now. Why does it keep going back and forth. Before I run to the other side, I realize running back and forth is just going to make me tired and the Cetus will just continue to damage the boat. If I wait here I can shoot it when it comes back around. Woop I have a plan. I feel the boat sway a bit as the giant fish swims back under the boat.

Bump.

Here's my chance. I aim at where the fishes head meets its body and swoosh. Bullseye.

"TAKE THAT YOU CRAZY WHALE-FISH!" I scream. The Cetus slowly sinks back down into the water. Well I'm not as bored anymore, but now it's all calm again. I think I saw a blank journal below, maybe I can write about my adventures. I trudge down below to where I sleep and pull the journal out of a drawer, but it isn't completely blank. There's a letter in the front, from Athena. I just now realized the journal was covered in owls.

Dear Alex,

I expect you have read all of the books you brought with you and have picked up this journal in hopes of a cure for your boredom. I want you to take this journal everywhere, it is my gift to you. It shall prove helpful in your greatest time of need.

Love Athena

P.S. Good Luck

How is a dumb old journal important? Whatever I'm not really in need right now. I pick up a pen and turn to the next blank page. I'm just about to write when words appear on the page.

"Oh come on, can I even write in you?" The journal did not answer, but the words became clearer.

Seven half-bloods shall answer the call,

To storm or fire the world must fall,

An oath to keep with a final breath,

And foes bare arms to the Doors of Death,

I already know the prophecy, why is it here? Maybe I'm supposed to decipher it, but there isn't much to decipher. So the seven half bloods that's Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Jason, Leo, Hazel, and Frank. They sent us an Iris message a while back confirming that. To storm or fire, that's gotta be Jason or Percy for the storm, and Leo for the fire. An oath to keep, I have no idea what that could be. Foes bear arms to the Doors of Death, I know that the monsters wouldn't die because the Doors of Death were opened and Thanatos was taken, but who are the foes? Gaea's army? This is giving me a headache.

I turn to next page to write, this time it stays blank. I write down my interpretation of the prophecy and since that only takes me about 2 minutes I decide to practice my Ancient Greek. First I write the alphabet, then my name, then the prophecy, the names of every camper at Camp Half Blood, and finally I write down my whole day of adventures in Ancient Greek and English. When I'm finally satisfied I walk over to my little eating area and get a plate. I close my eyes, think of what food I want then look down, Dad's fried chicken. That was my favorite meal as a kid. The only reason I'm a year-rounder at camp is because so many monsters sniffed me out.

Stupid monsters. I miss my dad so much, but I don't want to put him in danger. Chiron told me that I should've been able to get by without many monsters since children of Athena aren't necessarily a rarity, but for some reason they all seem to know exactly where I am and when to cause trouble. Everyone's just safer at Camp Half Blood. With a sigh I bite into my fried chicken.

It's not exactly like my dad's but I'll take it. After dinner, I climb into my little bunk and slowly drift away.

My dreams aren't very pleasant. It started off happy when it was me and my dad sitting in a boat fishing, like we used to in North Carolina. I'd just caught a fish, but when I reeled it back in, it wasn't a fish. It was a hippocampus. I felt so bad for the poor creature and I pulled out the hook as gently as I could, but then there were monsters all around me. There weren't just sea monsters, there were giants, gorgons, Furies, hyrdas, and just about any monster you could think of. The hippocampus started tugging at my shirt, he can escape. The hippocampus only looked big enough to carry one of us though.

For the first time I look back at my dad and see the look of horror on his face. I can't leave him here, I just can't. I clamp my hand on his wrist and pull him toward the hippocampus. I wonder if there is any Mist hiding how treacherous the monsters really are, probably not considering he's still in shock. He finally snaps out of it when I put his arm around the hippocampus.

"What are doing Alex! I can't just leave you!"

"Dad's he's not big enough to carry us both and there isn't any more hippocampi around!" I can feel hot tears rolling down my face.

"I'm not leaving you!"

"You have to Dad! It's the only way you'll be safe! If you don't leave me they'll eat us both!" Before he could reply I ran up and hugged him, then wrapped both his arms around the hippocampus and screamed "GO!" The hippocampus zoomed off with my dad on his back, obviously happy to leave all these monsters behind. I hear my dad in the distance yell "I love you"

I tried to yell back, but the monsters had already started to rip at my flesh.

That morning wasn't any better. I'd hit land, but not the land I wanted. It looked like an island from what I could tell. Did the boat mess up? Did they put in the wrong coordinates? It wasn't that it hit the land unexpectedly because the engine had stopped. Or maybe something else caused the engine to stop? Then it finally dawned on me. Hercules. I'm not allowed to go through until I've passed one of Hercules tests. I groan and pick up my backpack. I didn't have much to put in it, but I took it anyway along with my bow and arrows.

What could Hercules make me do? From what I'd read they usually simple tasks, but Gods are pretty unpredictable. This was proved when I walked up the God who was sitting on a rock, looking depressed and angry at the same time. I cleared her throat and the God looked up with annoyance.

"What do you want?" He spit out bitterly.

"Well, I'd like to pass through the Mediterranean and enter Rome, but I have to do one of your challenges, correct?"

"Eh, what's the point? The only thing I ever wanted is gone now, I'm alone on this island, why should I make a bunch of random mortals do challenges for me?"

"I..I don't know. It's just always been that way I guess."

"Yep, always. They show up sing a song, then leave. No one ever stays." Woah wait. He's lonely? And what was the "one thing he ever wanted"?

"Well maybe I can get you that thing you wanted and I can get through to Rome!"

"Oh please. The horn of plenty is long gone by now. Stupid demigods." Well that was unexpected.

"Oh. Well I didn't know. Sorry." I didn't know what to say.

"Well I guess I have to make you do something before you pass through to Rome"

"Um yeah, but if you're not up to it we can always just skip it. That'd be so much easier on both of us."

"Yeah. That's a good idea. You don't do a challenge and stay here with me!"

"Wait. What? That's not what I me-"

"No, it's glorious! You can stay here and be immortal with me and I'll never be lonely again!" This can't be happening.

"I'm on a quest! I can't just abandon my friends and let the world be destroyed by Gaea!"

"Oh who cares about her? She's just a crazy old hag, who's finally waking up from a nap." Ok, Alex, think. Think. This is a battle, you need to retreat not fight. How do you get out of it? Hercules was starting walk towards me, but I was walking backwards to get away, then I hit a tree. He had me cornered, I did only thing I could think of, I nocked an arrow and started to lift my bow. He laughed.

"You think you can hurt me with that silly bow of yours? Ha! I'm immortal! You can be too if you just stay here with me." He started to put his hand on my arm, but I ducked under his legs and jumped up behind him, with my bow aiming straight at his head.

"I don't want to be immortal! I'm only 13! Just let me go and I won't cause you any trouble." I was trying to be calm, but who am I kidding? I wanted to rip this guys head off, but I knew that probably only lead to my own despise.

"Age really is just a number. When you're immortal you can be 13 years old and 3 eons old at the same time. So why does it matter?"

"Because I don't want to be immortal! I don't want to be stuck at 13 forever! I want to grow up, get married, have kids! Write a book! Not be stuck on this island with you!" Take that you flubbernugget.

"What's the point in that if you get killed by monsters before it even happens?"

"To say, I didn't take the easy way out. Now I'm done talking. You either can let me through or I can shoot an arrow through your head. Your choice." For emphasis I leveled my bow and squinted a bit, as if I was about to release the arrow.

"No demigod has ever had the guts to threaten me with one of your puny weapons. I admire your courage. I was once courageous, now I'm stuck on this island. I guess I better not ruin it for you. Now go on." Wait. It worked? How in Hades? Before I could recover from my own shock Hercules said "Hurry up or I'll change my mind."

I lowered my bow and ran off toward my ship.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: So the updating every Friday obviously isn't working, but that still is going to be my goal. It may end up with me updating whenever convenient, but right now Friday looks the easiest for me. Sorry for the delay, hope you had a merry Christmas!**

Even though I had gotten past Hercules without much trouble I couldn't rest easy at all. Whenever I'd doze off I'd have the same nightmare over and over. The bad thing was, it had actually happened. It always starts with me on my 11th birthday in May.

My dad and I both ran outside to catch lightning bugs, I've always loved seeing them because they symbolized the beginning of Summer, my favorite time of year. My dad decided to go back into the house to get a jar, so I was all alone. It was about 10 at night, so I didn't think anyone else would be out, but when I turned around a girl was standing there.

She looked like a cheerleader with perfectly curly brown hair, stunning blue eyes, and a perfect figure. She was exactly how I dreamed of looking. I didn't say anything, I just stared at her. When she smiled I realized something was horribly wrong, she didn't just have teeth, she had fangs. That's when her skin turned green and she lunged at me. I barely had time to jump back and run. What the heck was that thing? I ran around to other side of my house where I'd left my brand new bow. When I picked up my bow and sheath of arrows I dared a look at the girl, she now was some sort of snake woman with two tails instead of legs.

I grabbed an arrow and tried to get the sharp tips on as fast as I could. The tips looked a little different than usual, like a different color. IT DOESN'T MATTER JUST AIM, I command myself, but it was too late, the snake lady was lunging at me again. She hit me in the chest, knocking the bow out of my hands and into the woods as she pinned me to the ground.

"Ah a child of Athena and a gifted one at that! You'll make a tasty snack!" She hissed at me. I closed my eyes waited for her to rip my throat out, but it didn't happen. The pressure on my wrists lightened and when I opened my eyes, the girl was gone. All that was left in her place was some yellow dust. That's when I saw my dad come out of the woods with my bow. He looked frantic, but he hid it well.

"Alex, we need to talk." he said. Only now I realize how much that must of hurt him. Knowing the only way we'd both stay safe was if he let me go, but at that moment I was too stunned to understand anything.

"D-d-d-dad? What w-was that thing?"

"I'll explain in the car."

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere safe" He'd always say with a grim smile.

I woke up with hot tears on my face. I couldn't go back to sleep. Besides I was only a few hours away from the Argo II. The Hephaestus cabin gave me a tracker to activate when the boat finally stopped on land. I decided to go ahead and activate it so I could make a plan. I pulled a map out of one of the cupboards and read the tracker. They seemed to be just below the Apennine Mountains and they seem to be avoiding them. I wonder what treachery lies in there.

BAM.

Everything around me lurches forward. We must have hit land. Well I know where the Argo II is, but where am I? I've landed at what looks to be a trading dock. With so many mortals around, I'll have to sneak off my boat. Which means I can't leave a trace of me being here.

I hastily pick up maps and shove them into my backpack, being careful not to break the tracker I wrap it up in my Camp Half-Blood Shirt and stuff it into my bag. I pull on the most mortal clothes I can find and add a hoodie for good measure. I shove all the plates back into the cupboard and fix up my bunk as neatly as possible. I hear yelling outside and try to hurry up. All that's left is my bow and arrows. I had to hide them somehow.

I hid my quiver under my hoodie, but I had no place for my bow. More yelling, this time clear enough to recognize that the words are Italian. Looks like I'll have to risk holding my bow. I broke into a sprint for the upper deck, but immediately hid behind the rough canvas of the sails to avoid being seen. I lean over to see whos over there. Two older Italian men in jumpsuits are arguing, one is walking toward the stairs to the lower deck, while the other is yelling at him. Since they're so distracted, I start to sneak toward the docks.

That's when I notice him. A boy a little older than me, with curly brown hair, tan skin, and a tool belt around his waist. Leo Valdez.


End file.
